Ben Ogbemudia
Amnesty International yesterday said there was an upsurge in cases of rape in Nigeria with 11,200 cases reported by June 2020, while the Nigeria Police recorded 717 incidents between January and May last year.
This they said, was as a result of the lockdown imposed to tackle the spread of Covid-19 in 2020.
According to the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, in April 2020, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, was quoted to have said at least 3,600 cases of rape were recorded during the lockdown, while the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) received 11,200 reported cases of rape in 2020.
She said despite the Nigerian authorities’ declaration of a “state of emergency” on sexual and gender-based violence, rape persists at crisis levels with most survivors denied justice, rapists avoiding prosecution, and hundreds of cases of rape going unreported due to pervasive corruption, stigma, and victim-blaming.
The report, Nigeria: A Harrowing Journey; Access To Justice for Women and Girls Survivors of Rape covers harrowing cases of sexual violence against women and girls, including a six-year-old and an 11-year-old who were attacked so viciously they died.
It revealed how harmful cultural stereotypes, failures of law enforcement to investigate rape cases, toxic misogyny, and insufficient support for survivors, have created a culture of silence and impunity that continues to fail hundreds of women and girls every year.
The report said concrete actions have not been taken to tackle the rape crisis in Nigeria with the seriousness it deserves.
Women and girls continue to be failed by a system that makes it increasingly difficult for survivors to get justice while allowing perpetrators to get away with gross human rights violations.
“The fear of not being believed, or even being blamed for being raped, is creating a dangerous culture of silence that prevents survivors from seeking justice. It is unacceptable that survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence face such a torturous ordeal to get justice, which only adds to their pain.
“The ‘state of emergency’ has proven to be an empty declaration, which has so far done nothing to protect women and girls in Nigeria,” it stated.
The report was based on research carried out between March 2020 and August 2021, including interviews with 14 women and girl survivors of rape aged between 12 and 42.
Amnesty International researchers also interviewed seven parents of child survivors. Interviews were conducted in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, and Bauchi states.
Ojigho said as reports of rape escalated across Nigeria, state governors declared a “state of emergency” on rape and gender-based violence in June 2020. They also promised to set up a sex offender’s register. But over a year since their declaration, nothing has changed, as more cases of rape have been reported.
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“One victim, Vera Uwaila Omosuwa, a 22-year-old microbiology student, was raped and brutally assaulted in 2020 in a church near her home in Benin, Edo state, and died a couple of days later from her injuries. Hamira, a five-year-old, was drugged and raped by her neighbor in April 2020. Her injuries were so bad she could no longer control her bladder.”
Despite Nigeria’s international human rights obligation to enact, implement and monitor legislation addressing all forms of violence against women, women and girls continue to face discrimination in law and practice.
